trans_9 | Ship Work [Open]

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Ship Work [Open]

Skimmed down just her plantsuit and her hair tied in a ponytail and tucked into the collar, Reimi was laying on a platform that hovered under the nose of the Calnus. While she wasn’t the most incredible mechanic in the world, she knew how to repair her own ship. After all, it had gotten them out of a tight spot.

Adjusting the panel, she wiped her hands and picked up a data pad. The readout scrolled out in front of her and she stuck her tongue out in thought. “Mmm, needs a little more….”

Currently, she was trying to make sure that the auto-repair function was going to be ready for any situation. Picking up a spanner, she adjusted the bolt one last time and entered some code into the machine.

So involved in her work, she didn’t notice that anyone could just come up and talk to her at any given time.

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"Not for me it isn't. It's just a shocking reminder that I'm literally leveling up still." Reimi pouted, tapping her head with her finger. "You have a game too?"

"Yup. Zetta seems entirely at peace with the fact. Of course, he hadn't found it out abruptly one day, after all. "I've totally lost track of the name. It was something different in a couple places. If a personal opinion helps... don't worry about the levelling. It may take some grinding at times, but it's all worth it in the end."

"Well at least I know one person who's comfortable with the game-like stuff," said Reimi. "I think I'm on the verge of mastering this one technique I've been working on. But it's still slow going."

"Oh, my game's always been a little light on the ol' fourth wall." Zetta attempted to shrug, nearly fell over, and hurriedly righted himself with a glance at Reimi to make sure she hadn't noticed that. He was better at this when he had actual shoulders, honest. "Why's it bother you?

"I won't say I like the sensoriums, but if you take the safeties off, they're pretty good for training."

"Really? Stacy lets you do that?" inquired Reimi curiously. "Taking off the safeties I mean."

"Yeah, you just request an override." At least, so it had always been for the Overlord. Quite possibly the ship knew enough to realize that to the constructs he used, damage was essentially meaningless. But Zetta never gave any thought for that sort of thing.

He considered Reimi for a moment. "Hmm. So are you all pilot, or do you do fighting on your own, too?"

"Hmm maybe I could try it out sometime..." mused Reimi.

"Oh I do more than pilot. I fight with a bow and arrow and a few well placed kicks. I use chi to power most of my moves," she added.

"Oh hey, now we're talking." Zetta perked up a little at her description. "That's the sort of thing I get." Assuming she meant 'mana' when she said 'chi'. It all worked out the same in the end. "We needed some more ranged members in this fight. Excellent!

"...I should start a class in there," he mused to himself.

"You teach fighting?" inquired Reimi, looking the book over. The glassy-eyed minion looked like she could take care of herself but a book?

"How do you do that without um.... arms?"

"Not... I mean, I have an apprentice, but... Huh. Maybe I should." Zetta mused out loud as he rolled the thought about in his mind... then snapped his gaze right back to Reimi as her question finally broke through.

"Hey! Even as a book, I'm still the most badass freakin' Overlord in the cosmos!" He drew himself up proudly. "I have minions! Besides, I can use the sensoriums. Thousands of years of battle don't just pass by a guy without giving him SOME idea of how to set up a learning battle!

"And it's fine I don't have arms! If I did, no one here could handle me! I'd have crushed the Ohm the moment I found out what they were up to!"

Oh, you got him worked up, Reimi....

Reimi found his unshakable confidence amusing and she giggled at that. But it was a polite giggle at least and she was smiling. "I'm sure you could," she said honestly. "There's a lot of people here with amazing powers. More amazing than mine at any rate."

"Knock it off." Zetta barely even let her get the last words out before he cut them off with words hard enough to hold an edge. "Saying that kind of crap just makes it true. But who the hell knows how many people out there got killed who had 'more amazing' powers?" Than you, Reimi, not Zetta. "You ended up here. There's a reason. I don't know what it is. But here you are. So you've got a part to play in kicking the Ohm's ass same as everyone else!

"Now, you can either go on about how you're not awesome, or you can make a point of being awesome no matter how 'amaaaazing' other people are!"

Reimi bit off her phrase and nodded. What he did say was true enough, though her self confidence was usually in the pits. "I'll give it a try. It's kind of hard to think you're really amazing when all you can do is survive death from disease."

He just looked at her levelly, eyes narrowed. It was a really odd expression coming from a book. "If you can use a bow and arrow, or kick, you can fight. If you can fight, you can improve. At least you can challenge the stuff your life throws at you, instead of just having to accept it."

Reimi nodded, her lips upturning into a smile. "You're very wise," she said. "I guess sometimes I just don't believe in myself after what I had been through. But thank you. Do you think you could show me some pointers?"

"I'm an Overlord," Zetta said, as if that explained everything absolutely. Then he promptly got confused, utterly ruining his own smugness. "Err... what pointers did you want?"

"How to be confident. And maybe if you know anything with the bow and arrow you could give suggestions on new techniques to do?" inquired Reimi.

"Oh. Well, the bow and arrow thing I'd do in the sensorium. We can arrange that. You can work with my minions. Maybe my apprentice." Zetta smiled wickedly to himself, imagining that matchup. Oh yeah. It'd be good for her, wouldn't it? Hyaa ha ha ha ha!

Wait. Reimi. Still here. Back to the present, Zetta. "Confidence is..." He stopped. Confidence came naturally to him. Why didn't it to others? "Confidence is knowing exactly what you can do. And I don't mean that just you know what you literally can do that second, but also what you can do in the future, too. You can use a weapon, so that's something you can have confidence in. But if you start thinking, 'Well, I can't use it as good as other people,' then you lose confidence. You have to remember that so long as you're alive and kicking, you can still learn and improve. So it's a question of believing that you can handle what you have to face... not always right away, but so long as you have the will to keep trying."

"To believe you can do it..." murmured Reimi as she set her padd down on her lap. To be able to do it, could she really?

"All this time I thought I was just zeroes and ones... I guess I'm more than that now. I'm real... no, I always was real."

"Yeah. Confidence. That does sound like it's all self-motivated. But thank you for helping me with that."

"Just zeroes and ones?" Zetta blinked in some surprise. He'd never even thought of such a thing.

"You're alive and real," he said slowly, thinking as he spoke (for a rare change). "Sure, we come from games. But all that means is, we know it. No one can prove they're more 'real' than us. Whatever their reality is. So hey," he said, abruptly more lighthearted, "don't let it bother you. Live life and enjoy it. Uh, as much as possible, given where we are."

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Ship Work [Open]

Aww~

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